Alertness is an ability to focus on one thing at one time. And this looks so simple but it isn’t that simple. And this happens very rarely that we focus completely on the task in hand.
When we are doing something, we do it in a completely un-alert state of mind. Mind wanders in different directions at the same time. It moves so subtly that it needs an inner eye of clarity to see its motion.
Alertness is an inner game. It is not only beneficial for success in careers or sport games but it has its value in the spiritual world too.
Enlightened masters master this skill to reach higher states of mind. They gain special powers only because of developing the alertness in the present moment.
Alertness will not only help to achieve success but it will also reshape the mind completely. All areas of life will be enriched with high quality of living.
Health, Relations, Stress, Wealth, Negativity, Anger, Hurry, Frustration & many other factors will see a major change just by increasing the quality of alertness.
We will discuss, five powerful ways to increase Alertness & here are they :-
Table of Contents
Remain in Present Moment
Looking closely at the concept of alertness, it means that we are dreaming in our mind. Every minute, we are either in the past memories or in future imaginaries.
In our mind, we are living the past that has already gone. We repeat it again & again in our mind as if it is happening now but in fact it is not. This is just a day dream & we are jumping into it assuming it is real.
Breaking the habit of mind day dreaming can only be done by living in the present moment. One can either be in the present or in the past or future.
By default we are always in past or future because we have created a habit of doing so. This can be changed by shifting our focus from the illusion to the present moment.
Practice, Remaining in the present moment. This means that we stop our mind from dreaming.
To understand this, you can close your eyes now & wait for few seconds, what will happen within you, some thought will appear in front of you.
You will react to that thought then thought will disappear then after that there will be a small gap & another thought will appear. This is called a dreaming state of mind.
If you are alert then thought will not come or either it will disappear earlier because you are not entertaining the thought. Remaining in the present is not to dream & when you will stop dreaming then there will be present moment awareness.
You don’t have to do something special to be aware, indeed you don’t have to do anything, you have to stop doing what you are doing in your mind.
Practice Thoughtless Mind
We are mostly focused on the outside world. We are mostly busy watching things with our eyes.
We watch cricket matches, movies, books, mobile, computers, news, TV serials & so many things. We rarely bother to see within our inner world. We are interested in watching TV but we are not aware that there is an inner TV that doesn’t turn off. It runs 24 hours without any break.
There is a huge traffic of thoughts in our inner world. Traffic happens when the number of vehicles increase, similarly inner traffic happens when the number of thoughts increase.
Mind is bombarded with a huge amount of thoughts & due to unawareness there is no control over the thoughts.
Thoughts collide with each other, there is fight & chaos, there is hurriness & instability, there is noise & pollution, and there is anger & irritation.
It’s necessary to clear this inner traffic by practicing a thoughtless state of mind.
This is the state of mind where thoughts slow down & even they can stop completely. This can happen only by practice because we have been practicing completely opposite of what we want.
We have been practicing traffic for so long that we will have to put in a lot of effort for a new practice of thoughtless state of mind.
This can be practiced at any time. We don’t have to do anything here. Doing is not needed, by doing only we are creating thoughts.
We have not to do anything so that the empty state of mind can grow & expand. This is a knack & not a technique, just practice it more so that you can experience it by yourself.
No Body Movement
By watching our body, we can find out whether one is alert or not. Body shows the result of the state of mind.
Body is a reflection of the mind. Mind affects the body, the mind can be seen in the form of the body.
Body is physical, we can see it so it is a good instrument to measure the frequency of alertness.
When the body is moving frequently then it shows that there is lack of alertness.
Some people move their legs while they are sitting, while others move their faces frequently from here to there & some others move their hands constantly.
The eyes can also be seen blinking rapidly when there is lack of alertness. Breathing also becomes shallow resulting in less oxygen flow to the body.
The less or no movement of the body tells that person is alert & aware. When we sleep at night, there is less or no body movement & when we wake up we feel energised & refreshed.
No body movement saves lots of energy & energy gets accumulated within the inner system & person feels vibrant & energetic.
No body movement calms down the entire system & stress disappears as there is no tightness in any part of the body. Breathing starts to align itself & body gets perfect amounts of oxygen.
We can directly tap into the sphere of alertness by controlling the body movements. No body movement doesn’t mean to be like a rock. We have to move whenever required but we have to erase the unnecessary body movements that are in large numbers.
Practice No body movement very slowly. Firstly take a few seconds to stop all the body movements, sit still for 5 to 10 seconds without moving your legs, hands, blinking of eye & then release & continue this from time to time.
This should not be done while driving or performing any other such activity. Practice this when you are comfortable.
Attention to Breath
Breathing is something that is unstoppable & it is always up & running. Breathing is live no matter what the time or situation.
It may be day, it may be night, it may be happiness, it may be sorrow, it may be work, it may be rest, it may be awakening, it may be sleep, breathing is always available.
Breathing can be used as a tool to increase alertness. It is the best tool that is ever available to grow awareness.
And this is not something new, Gautam Buddha 2500 years ago gave the technique of watching the breath in the form of Vipassana Meditation.
As we are not aware in this moment, we are somewhere else busy dreaming some thoughts in the bubbles of our minds.
Attention to the Breath will bring you back in this present moment. Sticking to the incoming & outgoing breath develops the alertness very easily.
Only thing required is the constant bringing back the attention to the breath because we are accustomed to drifting back to the inner world of illusion.
Keep your attention to your breathing mechanism. Be alert of the breaths & do not miss any breath. If you miss then start it again & this has to be repeated enormously.
Let the In breath & Out breath become your only focus, this becomes your whole world & you are not concerned about anything else.
You only know one thing that is breathing. You are only focused on one thing that is breathing. Doing this will make such changes in your life that you never imagined before.
Meditate 1 Hour
Meditation has been used from ancient days to enhance the powers of mind. Meditation directly encounters the mind by closing the eyes.
Meditation is entering the inner dimension that has hidden mysteries that can bring an upliftment & benediction in one’s life.
In meditation, the meditator becomes aware of the inner world. He brings his complete focus into the inner mind. He becomes aware of all the things happening in his mind. He becomes the observer of thoughts that come & go.
This results in an increase in awareness because he is dedicatedly focusing on the mind.
Meditation breaks the unaware thought patterns. By watching the thoughts, they slowly start disappearing because in reality they are not there.
It is just an illusion, it is just the unclarity of our awareness, it is just because we are not alert & we are not able to see with a clear inner eye. Meditation sharpens the alertness & it results in stopping the thoughts.
Take time to meditate at least 1 hour daily. You can divide it to 30 minutes in the morning & 30 minutes at night.
This time will be the best use of your time ever. Nothing can be bigger than this. Meditation will give you that which no other thing can give you.
Remaining consistent is required & everyday discipline is required to open the door of success.